Hail Hail, the Celts are everywhere!

I BELIEVE everyone has a story and luckily for me many find their way to me in the simplest of forms. This one’s no different. So, I know a guy, who knows a guy whose dad was the famous Jim McGinley from Glenswilly in County Donegal. Jim was the

catalyst behind so many Celtic fans getting to Lisbon to witness history being made when they won the European Cup on May 25, 1967 at the Estadio Nacional.

In 1929, Jim’s dad, Paddy, moved the family, his mum, dad, himself and his sister to Clydebank from Glenswilly. Like so many before and after him, he sought to make a better life for his family. Jim excelled at school and was handpicked to represent the school on a trip to Dublin to meet none other than Éamon de Valera—not that he ever had any notion of entering into politics. Jim’s feet were firmly on the ground. His best pal, incidentally, was Jack McGinn who remained a close friend throughout his life.

Jim McGinley was first taken to Celtic Park by a Partick Thistle fan, believe it or not, and on that visit he was well and truly bitten by the Celtic bug. Celtic became his team and Charlie Tully his number one player. And like Jack McGinn, Charlie Tully would also become a very good friend of Jim’s who would later travel with him as his guest to Lisbon for the cup final. Jim’s son told me that when Charlie Tully died, his daddy attended the funeral and came home with a rather bizarre token of remembrance. To this day he has no idea why, but his dad was given a rubber bullet at Charlie’s funeral. I can only think this was some reference to Charlie’s Belfast upbringing. But who knows?

Entrepreneurial skills

Jim was accepted to study medicine at Trinity College, Dublin, however, he was called up to do national service with the RAF, so didn’t get the opportunity to study. But just like Robin Williams in Good Morning Vietnam, Jim McGinley became the RAF radio announcer who kept the troops going with his daily broadcasts. On his return home there were very few jobs for servicemen, and so Jim became a lab technician in St Augustine’s School in Milton. It was here he met Kathleen, who would become his wife.

Meanwhile Jim’s dad, Paddy had opened up a grocery store, PJ McGinley’s on Kilbowie Road beside the Singer Sewing machine factory in Clydebank, and when Paddy’s health began to suffer, Jim stepped in and took over the running of the shop, despite being accepted once more for university. Jim clearly had brains to burn, but I assure you they didn’t go to waste.

His passion for Celtic and his obvious entrepreneurial skills went hand in hand, and with the arrival of Jock Stein at the club in March 1965 Jim had a vision. Jock brought success. And Jim knew that if Celtic succeeded at home then they would do the same in Europe. And when they did, Jim knew in his heart the fans would travel to support them. He had always wanted to work in the travel industry and often wondered when he travelled to and from Donegal, why people didn’t book their travel and accommodation together? This made perfect sense to him. So when PJ McGinley’s Grocery store was closed down to make way for Clydebank Shopping Centre, Jim’s natural progression was to make his dream a reality and start up his very own travel company; and so Holiday Enterprises was born. Jim would buy up loads of train tickets to the likes of Morecombe, Blackpool, Scarborough and book out accommodation too, thus creating a package holiday for people. This was so unusual that British Rail bosses paid Jim a visit, asking why he was buying up so many train tickets.

Business took off and among his valued staff Jim employed Betty McKinley—Tosh McKinley’s mammy—who was an incredible woman with a photographic memory it seems. So when Jock Stein and Celtic secured victories against FC Zurich, Nantes, Vojvodina and Dukla Prague to book their place in the final, Jim headed for London. He took a train out to Gatwick Airport—a former RAF base—and entered a portacabin. He introduced himself, explained he wanted to hire some planes because Celtic had made it to the final in Lisbon and he wanted to transport thousands of fans. This story was relayed to the man with the planes—Mr Freddie Laker—who rang The Daily Express newspaper to affirm Jim’s story. And as they say, the rest is history. Freddie Laker supplied five planes, but Jim went on to hire another 14 from Dan Air, Britannia, Aer Lingus and various others—he got 19 in total, and he filled them all!

Celtic fans rushed to book with Holiday Enterprises (above). On arriving in Lisbon they were picked up in green and white buses. The bus company name, Mars & Kroon, which was affectionately Glaswegianised and renamed ‘M…arse and Parsley’ by the fans. They were transported to their hotels and accommodation and also transferred on match day to the stadium. Jim had it all covered.

A priestly pal

Among those fans was a young priest, Fr Charlie Cavanagh from Paisley and that same priest would travel again 50 years later in May 2017 with Jim’s son—also Jim—who orchestrated, at the request of his pal Davie Morrison from Stirling, an anniversary trip back to Lisbon. ‘One Night in Lisbon’ was printed on t-shirts. A license to block off Pink Street was obtained. Entertainment was provided. The BBC and ITV brought drones and a dinner for 450 people was arranged at the Palazo de Alantejo. That night Jorge Cadete’s sister—a policewoman—was on duty. I mean what are the chances eh? So the fans serenaded her with the famous Jorge Cadete song, of which she was highly impressed and amused. Mgr Charlie Cavanagh celebrated Holy Mass in the Basilica of Our Lady of the Martyrs for the thousands in attendance and was given a special commemorative medal marking the occasion. By God Jim McGinley Jr was going to live up to his dad’s name and his standards. But I guess when you are left the impressive legacy he was, then you’ve no choice but to get it right.

And by the way, when I first rang Jim to arrange our meeting I noted his number ended ‘1888.’ Now that’s what I call Celtic synchronicity, or is it divine intervention? Another spiritual co-incidence, Monsignor Charlie Cavanagh who travelled with Jim and his dad to Lisbon passed away the same day as Pope Francis, April 21, Easter Monday. I’m wondering will the two men have any Heavenly chat about the Hoops? After all, they did meet before when Francis was gifted his very own hoops during the private audience he had with the team and Monsignor Charlie in Rome in 2023.

Jim’s 2017 trip was a massive success, just like his dad’s in 1967. And what better way to round off the celebrations than to go to a bar and watch the Aberdeen vs Celtic Scottish Cup Final in Bar CR7 in Lisbon owned by Cristiano Ronaldo. Jim and the Bhoys wore their Hoops with pride, watched the game, won, celebrated and had a fabulous night. And to top it off the manager arrived over with six bottles of champagne and a text message from the man himself, Cristiano. It read: “Well done the Bhoys!”

Famous faces

Following Celtic’s European victory, the fans were happy to travel anywhere. The Intercontinental Cup in Argentina where the infamous ‘Battle of Montevideo’ occurred and saw a total of six red cards issued, four of which were given to Celtic players, so I won’t dwell too much on this particular tale. Jim Jr got to go on this trip for his sixth birthday and he remembers how crazy the game was and how scarves were confiscated even beforehand. But God bless a group of resourceful women who bought a load of green and white material and sewed it together to make replacements.

Jim also remembers his dad’s trip to Budapest when Celtic played Ujpest Dozsa. When Jim went to book rooms in the Dunas Blancas Intercontinental Hotel he was informed that Liz Taylor and her husband Richard Burton were staying at the hotel and had booked out the entire fifth floor for Liz’s 40th birthday celebrations. So Jim requested to book the fourth and sixth floors. Who would have imagined eh? Liz Taylor and Richard Burton, famous Hollywood stars in a nice wee Glasgow Celtic sandwich? I bet she never forgot that birthday. They were formally invited to the game, but couldn’t go. However, the following night Liz had her 40th party and invited the Celtic fans along to celebrate with her. She was presented with flowers and a Celtic strip and scarf. Jim was offered money by loads of fans to cover the cost of the flowers, because, in his words: “I think these guys wanted to go home and dine out on a story that they’d met Liz Taylor and bought her flowers.”

Jock Stein’s club success and Jim McGinley’s travel success both seemed to draw to a close around the same time. The increasing oil prices in 1975 massively impacted Holiday Enterprises and they couldn’t continue. Stein’s near fatal car crash in 1975, club transfer issues among other factors saw Jock leave Celtic in 1978. But no one will ever forget what both of these men achieved. Jock took the team to Lisbon and Jim took the fans—and oh what victory they enjoyed.

“Hail Hail the Celts are here!” were the words heard over the tannoy system by Celtic fans when they arrived back to Glasgow Airport following their Lisbon victory. The announcer was Kathleen McGinley, Jim’s wife who welcomed them home. I’d have paid good money to be there and hear that announcement I can tell you.

L J Sexton, mum of four, returned to university to pursue her passion for the written word. She achieved her Honours Degree in English Literature and Creative Writing and hasn't stopped writing since. Lyn is born of Irish parents and lived in Donegal for eight years. She is also the press officer for Irish Minstrels CCÉ music group based in St Roch’s Secondary School